


Deception of a Memory

by AhnzoVincente



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout - Fandom, Fallout 4
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Memories, Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, References to Depression, Repressed Memories, Tags/Rating/TW/CW will be updated or changed as chapters are added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-18 04:38:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17574032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AhnzoVincente/pseuds/AhnzoVincente
Summary: Sometimes, what we see and experience under duress of a trauma is not all that it appears to be. The mind can be a labyrinth of understanding and struggle. What we believe to be true must be questioned to fully understand the world.“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.” - Friedrich Nietzsche





	Deception of a Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.
> 
> \- Harriet Beecher Stowe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suggested Listening - "Cold" - Jorge Mendez
> 
> https://youtu.be/pUZeSYsU0Uk

Once a bustling neighborhood of innovation, Sanctuary now stands abandoned. Air flows freely and whips through shattered windows and broken down doors, while the occasional last leaf falls haphazardly to the ground. There used to be life here, but no longer. No longer will you hear the sound of children laughing, the sound of neighbors rejoicing… the war ripped that away. It ripped it violently from the hands of those that once lived here. A land of abandoned dreams now lies untouched and broken.

Legends told by those surviving off the land say that sometimes, when the sky is bare and the moon shines freely, that the breeze carries whispers through the trees. The laughs of children are heard and the joy of families ripple through time. It seems as if the spirit of the town cannot be silenced. The lives and dreams of the families cannot die. A small cross for each family now sits untouched in front of the abandoned homes, as if serving a reminder for the ghosts that they still have a home, that they still have a place to be free.

The Minutemen and former inhabitants have since moved on to better things, Garvey and his regiment decided to help those in the Capital Wasteland and in the process found bigger and better things. The idealistic group found lives outside of a hopeless land, they found love and hope and dreams. Something Sanctuary could never give them, not with that haunting sense of loss that plagued the air.

The whipping wind picks up strands of dead grass, they fly without a care, without burden through the air before landing at the feet of a stranger that stands fortified at their position on the bridge. Chilled air flaps the individual’s long cloak sending its coattails winding around the figure’s legs. They grasp their gloved hands onto their lapels tightly, pulling the collar up around their neck as their heavy step echoes off the metal siding of the abandoned houses.

Twigs and leaves crunch under the footfalls as the figure makes their way to the front door of a home with a sense of familiarity. The life once lived here is no longer so it seems, but the memories hauntingly echo through time. There’s a pause in their actions as the individual reaches their white gloved hand to the edge of the door frame, as if feeling grief for the family that had their future and lives frantically torn from their grasp. But they push through the entrance and suddenly feel like nothing has changed. Despite the emptiness of this home, the strong feelings of love and longing remain.

A flicker of light bouncing through the back window catches the stranger’s eye and natural curiosity leads them to the backyard. This home is different. It feels different. The spirit of this family is broken, separated by a loss so deep that it feels as if nothing will ever reunite them. Carved stone lies at the stranger’s feet; covered by dust and dead leaves signifying it’s been untouched for many years. The mysterious wanderer carefully kneels down and sits back on their heels, a cautious trembling hand moving towards the marker. Howling sounds of the evening winds echo through the broken windows as the gloved hand brushes the debris aside, revealing a familiar collection of names:

_ Shaun + Bailey Owen. _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Lacy for the beta read <3


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